Too convenient for you? [ he doesn't sound like he thinks it's completely normal either, mind ] It's like those audio messages they found, and the one from yesterday. They're all damaged enough that we can't have the entire info, only bits and parts. I thought Gotham had the horror atmosphere down pat, but this place is giving it a run for its money.
[ yes, dick is blaming aesthetic for why everything is like that. supervillains just. make him accept that this is a thing that happens. sometimes. things are the way they are. for the Drama.
anyway, it's time to go back to the notebook so he can actually solve a cipher because he's a bat and he's puzzle obsessed. ]
V=F, so... [ he's pausing as he looks over aizawa's shoulder, clearly mentally solving it like a big boy instead of me, cheating, using a website ] Hard to look him in the eyes... knowing it might be there. [ hm. he frowns but continues: ] It's a reminder don't trust anyone... sorry my friend.
[Aizawa's weakness is showing, that is, in his world hero work and detective work are... pretty separate. The police may ask for a hero's help in certain cases but usually the most detecting they did was "where will they strike next?"]
The message from earlier also said distrust would spread among us.
["knowing it might be there"... would it be there watching? or would it be there in the person itself?]
... maybe the rest of the writing was purposefully damaged. They don't want us to know too much.
[After all, if no one could be trusted, anything written normally was just evidence to be destroyed.]
But solving the cipher does not seem to be what's gonna get them out of here. The door stays right where it is, and nothing else in the room has changed; it's just them, all this machinery, and a locked breaker box.]
[ it's fine, the bats have to make up for being non-meta by being extra as fuck. ]
Considering the way every thing in this place has worked so far? You're probably right. This, plus what Junpei and the others found... I think the question at this point is if we're looking into clones, mind control or possession.
[ anyway we are now the detective pikachu gif. GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE??? nightwing's gonna put that notebook in his pouches. "how does it fit" shut up utility belt powers activate, and then dick moves on to idk touch the machinery. beep boop. is there anything this can do. let them out. ]
I'm starting to think we might have to unplug everything. How do you feel about advanced darkness?
It sounds like a great way for either of us to get attacked.
[or grabbed by the cold and clammy badtouch again]
[... but, like, otherwise it's a rather small room and they don't have too many options. do they? he'll at least start messing with some of the wires to see if any are attached to something they can actually see. If they're going to start unplugging things, he'd rather know what they were trying to unplug.]
Clones or mind control seem most likely. Ghosts aren't real, after all.
[he says, flatly, as if a ghost didn't flirt with him day 0.]
[Well, most of the visible cables are attached to the closed breaker box. Hard to say what any of them are for-- there aren't visible labels here.
If they want to start unplugging things, they're definitely going to be working blindly and finding out the hard way just what they're for. Also they're going to have to find where these actually attach, since there aren't visible plugs-- the cables are kind of running through the machinery and the room.]
Really? Ghosts are where you draw the line in this place? [ polly is? right there? he seems to think that's real funny. anyway he throws a shrug at aizawa ] If we want to take out cables, we'd need to cut them. They're not plugged into anything visible.
[ and from his tone he'd rather. avoid. causing a power surge in the hotel just yet. it's been like, 4 days. well. these are two strong men in a room, so: ]
I've seen clones before, I've seen mind control before. There are certain "ghost" heroes, sure, but that's more that they can go through things or remotely move objects.
[so, yeah, like he'll steadfastly not believe in ghosts until horikoshi shows me a hero who legit has the power to talk to ghosts and therefore prove that ghosts are real in the my hero academia universe while exploring none of the lore implications of that]
... sure. Let's see if anything's hidden behind them.
[moving large things sounds better than debating the realness of ghosts]
You know what's not fake, though, how heavy these machines are. And how bolted into the walls they are. They can try, but they're about to have an interesting time with that.
Also, as soon as they start trying to move the machines, the door of the locked breaker box begins to rattle.]
Skepticism from a guy with superpowers. Now where have I seen that before?
[ from his dead best friend, so it's probably a good thing the breaker box starts rattling after their ABSOLUTELY useless efforts to move the machinery! wow. ]
... Think that one's a not-ghost?
[ since ghosts aren't real :) let's go see :) the non-haunted breaker box :) ]
Quirks are genetically provable and observable. Even if I can't use mine right now.
[HE'S AWARE THAT SOUNDS BAD, OKAY. THAT'S PART OF WHAT BOTHERS HIM SO MUCH ABOUT THIS.]
[anyways, about the breaker ghost]
And a rattling door doesn't mean a ghost exists. When you hear a noise alone in your house, do you assume it's ghost? There's probably a logical and rational explanation.
[... with that loaded statement, let's examine it.]
[Thank you for examining the super not haunted breaker box.
It looks perfectly normal! It is a breaker box with a keyhole built into the bottom. Its door is shut tight, and it remains locked; now that they're examining it, it doesn't rattle again.
Genetics, huh... We've been calling those meta-genes. [ this is just an interesting factoid. ] True, it could be some kind of mechanism built in to make it shake when we do something... [ since it stopped-- ] ooor it's a spooky scary ghost. Let's see what we can find.
[ welp. since it's stopped rattling. dick's gonna just touch the door and try to feel for the keyhole. maybe his stupid needle would fit in this one. he hasn't checked. ]
... It's commonly called the "quirk factor." It manifests in children at around four years old... but we don't have a solid way of predicting if it will manifest at all.
[What, is this urgent? He can give some exposition. Unless ghosts hate exposition.]
[It's fine, ghosts don't seem to hate exposition. Nothing happens, again.
When Dick finds the keyhole he's feeling around for, he'll find that it looks too small for the needle to properly get in there, since it looks like they're a little thick going off google images? But the tip might be thin enough to wedge into the door seam.]
[ please don't ask me like i know what trussing needles are actually like.
let's superhero exposition while dick tries to wedge this door open, then!!! ]
Huh. Similar, but not quite. From what we understand, meta-genes are a genetic marker found in certain humans that allows them to endure catastrophic physical trauma by developing new abilities. [ he frowns a bit ] Scientists only started observing and studying it recently, though superpowered human individuals have been around for at least... what, seventy years publicly? People who are related to a meta are more likely to also have the meta-gene, as well as develop it early.
[ he mentions humans a lot because. theres a lot of. non-humans in young justice. it's fine. anyway here's some fuckin science ]
[he recites the information, like remembering some old history textbook]
"The Luminescent Baby in Qing Qing City, China was the first recorded individual with a quirk. From then, they started showing up around the world." When I was in school, we'd recently hit 70%... Nowadays I think the number is closer to 80% of individuals with some level of quirk.
[u need any help there, bud? is it budging? man, imagine if we had four people crammed in here doing a whole lot of nothing]
... I'd assumed you were the same. So much for familiarity.
[not that it's bad, just... it's nice to feel like someone else is working from the same rulebook]
[ yeah dick doesn't get to answer with EIGHTY FUCKING PERCENT???????? like he wants to because he's too busy yelping at being electrocuted. it's fine! it's not his first time!
but he is shaking his hand in the dark. thank god he wasn't in civvies, that would've hurt a lot more!!!! that it already fuckin did!!! ]
Ow. That's gonna be fun to look at later. [ a beat, and then: ] It's pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue. [ he's muttering this to himself as he closes and opens his fist, wincing a little. eh. he's mostly fine. ] Looks like we're on pause for the superhero comparison talk. Can you-- [ he uses his other hand to hand over the blowtorch to aizawa. or, well. try to hand it over to him when he can't see. ] Point this up in the air, try and make some light? It's the blowtorch.
[There's the brief surprise at the reaction, Aizawa's hand naturally goes to his capture weapon again- ... but it's not needed.]
[He reaches out that same hand to feel and- no, that's a shoulder. no, no that's a tiddy. There we go, there's the blowtorch. There's a bit more blind groping to orient it before,]
Alright.
[Once he's confident, he'll point it up and turn it on.]
We'll have to ask the others, later, if that affected anywhere else.
But once Aizawa is done touching Dick and has the blowtorch on, the inside of the box is visible! It's full of switches, each with a label handwritten on white tape. Nothing from the inaccessible basement levels, so they're out of luck there, but there's a switch for each individual room on the hotel levels as well as one for the Panthouse. There are labels for the rooms they're less familiar with, as well: three of the switches are for SUBSIDIARY ELECTRICAL ROOM, GIFT SHOP, and GRAND BALLROOM.
[ dick's tiddies have been touched. he stood there and stared straight at an invisible camera in the darkness.
well then. ]
Thanks. [ for the groping? clearly? ] The good news is, we've found what the other locked rooms are. Escha's gonna love that map update. [ the bad news is ......... should they switch all of those on. hm. welp! dick starts them off by switching the breaker for the room they're in to on. to like. test. and also. for there to be light. ] Let's hope this doesn't electrocute me again.
[ im giving sarah full rights to whether we turn on all the breakers because I WANNA ]
[That's clearly one of the more illogical things here. Is it a famous hotel? Are they famous? Is this, like Haymitch had suggested, being televised? Is he going to have merch? A line of those kinds of absolutely disgusting thoughts goes through his mind. How absolutely vile.]
Go ahead and turn them all on.
[unless you get electrocuted. or maybe even if you do get electrocuted.]
And, it should go without saying, be ready in case this thing snaps shut.
[the door already proved he can't stop it if it starts]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fullthottle) wrote2019-10-07 07:22 pm
no subject
[ yes, dick is blaming aesthetic for why everything is like that. supervillains just. make him accept that this is a thing that happens. sometimes. things are the way they are. for the Drama.
anyway, it's time to go back to the notebook so he can actually solve a cipher because he's a bat and he's puzzle obsessed. ]
V=F, so... [ he's pausing as he looks over aizawa's shoulder, clearly mentally solving it like a big boy instead of me, cheating, using a website ] Hard to look him in the eyes... knowing it might be there. [ hm. he frowns but continues: ] It's a reminder don't trust anyone... sorry my friend.
[ hm. ]
Well, that's cheery.
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The message from earlier also said distrust would spread among us.
["knowing it might be there"... would it be there watching? or would it be there in the person itself?]
... maybe the rest of the writing was purposefully damaged. They don't want us to know too much.
[After all, if no one could be trusted, anything written normally was just evidence to be destroyed.]
no subject
But solving the cipher does not seem to be what's gonna get them out of here. The door stays right where it is, and nothing else in the room has changed; it's just them, all this machinery, and a locked breaker box.]
no subject
Considering the way every thing in this place has worked so far? You're probably right. This, plus what Junpei and the others found... I think the question at this point is if we're looking into clones, mind control or possession.
[ anyway we are now the detective pikachu gif. GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE??? nightwing's gonna put that notebook in his pouches. "how does it fit" shut up utility belt powers activate, and then dick moves on to idk touch the machinery. beep boop. is there anything this can do. let them out. ]
I'm starting to think we might have to unplug everything. How do you feel about advanced darkness?
[ it joke ]
no subject
[or grabbed by the cold and clammy badtouch again]
[... but, like, otherwise it's a rather small room and they don't have too many options. do they? he'll at least start messing with some of the wires to see if any are attached to something they can actually see. If they're going to start unplugging things, he'd rather know what they were trying to unplug.]
Clones or mind control seem most likely. Ghosts aren't real, after all.
[he says, flatly, as if a ghost didn't flirt with him day 0.]
no subject
If they want to start unplugging things, they're definitely going to be working blindly and finding out the hard way just what they're for. Also they're going to have to find where these actually attach, since there aren't visible plugs-- the cables are kind of running through the machinery and the room.]
no subject
Really? Ghosts are where you draw the line in this place? [ polly is? right there? he seems to think that's real funny. anyway he throws a shrug at aizawa ] If we want to take out cables, we'd need to cut them. They're not plugged into anything visible.
[ and from his tone he'd rather. avoid. causing a power surge in the hotel just yet. it's been like, 4 days. well. these are two strong men in a room, so: ]
But we could try moving the machines.
no subject
[so, yeah, like he'll steadfastly not believe in ghosts until horikoshi shows me a hero who legit has the power to talk to ghosts and therefore prove that ghosts are real in the my hero academia universe while exploring none of the lore implications of that]
... sure. Let's see if anything's hidden behind them.
[moving large things sounds better than debating the realness of ghosts]
no subject
You know what's not fake, though, how heavy these machines are. And how bolted into the walls they are. They can try, but they're about to have an interesting time with that.
Also, as soon as they start trying to move the machines, the door of the locked breaker box begins to rattle.]
no subject
[ from his dead best friend, so it's probably a good thing the breaker box starts rattling after their ABSOLUTELY useless efforts to move the machinery! wow. ]
... Think that one's a not-ghost?
[ since ghosts aren't real :) let's go see :) the non-haunted breaker box :) ]
no subject
[HE'S AWARE THAT SOUNDS BAD, OKAY. THAT'S PART OF WHAT BOTHERS HIM SO MUCH ABOUT THIS.]
[anyways, about the breaker ghost]
And a rattling door doesn't mean a ghost exists. When you hear a noise alone in your house, do you assume it's ghost? There's probably a logical and rational explanation.
[... with that loaded statement, let's examine it.]
no subject
It looks perfectly normal! It is a breaker box with a keyhole built into the bottom. Its door is shut tight, and it remains locked; now that they're examining it, it doesn't rattle again.
What do they do.]
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[ welp. since it's stopped rattling. dick's gonna just touch the door and try to feel for the keyhole. maybe his stupid needle would fit in this one. he hasn't checked. ]
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[innuendo ahoy]
... It's commonly called the "quirk factor." It manifests in children at around four years old... but we don't have a solid way of predicting if it will manifest at all.
[What, is this urgent? He can give some exposition. Unless ghosts hate exposition.]
no subject
When Dick finds the keyhole he's feeling around for, he'll find that it looks too small for the needle to properly get in there, since it looks like they're a little thick going off google images? But the tip might be thin enough to wedge into the door seam.]
no subject
let's superhero exposition while dick tries to wedge this door open, then!!! ]
Huh. Similar, but not quite. From what we understand, meta-genes are a genetic marker found in certain humans that allows them to endure catastrophic physical trauma by developing new abilities. [ he frowns a bit ] Scientists only started observing and studying it recently, though superpowered human individuals have been around for at least... what, seventy years publicly? People who are related to a meta are more likely to also have the meta-gene, as well as develop it early.
[ he mentions humans a lot because. theres a lot of. non-humans in young justice. it's fine. anyway here's some fuckin science ]
no subject
"The Luminescent Baby in Qing Qing City, China was the first recorded individual with a quirk. From then, they started showing up around the world." When I was in school, we'd recently hit 70%... Nowadays I think the number is closer to 80% of individuals with some level of quirk.
[u need any help there, bud? is it budging? man, imagine if we had four people crammed in here doing a whole lot of nothing]
... I'd assumed you were the same. So much for familiarity.
[not that it's bad, just... it's nice to feel like someone else is working from the same rulebook]
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While they're both dropping exposition, though, they're about to be rudely interrupted. Prying the box's door open works...
But Dick will get a nasty shock from it as it pops open, and all the lights in the room promptly go out.
The box is open! They just cannot see inside with no light.]
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but he is shaking his hand in the dark. thank god he wasn't in civvies, that would've hurt a lot more!!!! that it already fuckin did!!! ]
Ow. That's gonna be fun to look at later. [ a beat, and then: ] It's pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue. [ he's muttering this to himself as he closes and opens his fist, wincing a little. eh. he's mostly fine. ] Looks like we're on pause for the superhero comparison talk. Can you-- [ he uses his other hand to hand over the blowtorch to aizawa. or, well. try to hand it over to him when he can't see. ] Point this up in the air, try and make some light? It's the blowtorch.
[ he has a booboo help him out :( ]
no subject
[There's the brief surprise at the reaction, Aizawa's hand naturally goes to his capture weapon again- ... but it's not needed.]
[He reaches out that same hand to feel and- no, that's a shoulder. no, no that's a tiddy. There we go, there's the blowtorch. There's a bit more blind groping to orient it before,]
Alright.
[Once he's confident, he'll point it up and turn it on.]
We'll have to ask the others, later, if that affected anywhere else.
no subject
But once Aizawa is done touching Dick and has the blowtorch on, the inside of the box is visible! It's full of switches, each with a label handwritten on white tape. Nothing from the inaccessible basement levels, so they're out of luck there, but there's a switch for each individual room on the hotel levels as well as one for the Panthouse. There are labels for the rooms they're less familiar with, as well: three of the switches are for SUBSIDIARY ELECTRICAL ROOM, GIFT SHOP, and GRAND BALLROOM.
The breakers are all currently switched to OFF.]
no subject
well then. ]
Thanks. [ for the groping? clearly? ] The good news is, we've found what the other locked rooms are. Escha's gonna love that map update. [ the bad news is ......... should they switch all of those on. hm. welp! dick starts them off by switching the breaker for the room they're in to on. to like. test. and also. for there to be light. ] Let's hope this doesn't electrocute me again.
[ im giving sarah full rights to whether we turn on all the breakers because I WANNA ]
no subject
[That's clearly one of the more illogical things here. Is it a famous hotel? Are they famous? Is this, like Haymitch had suggested, being televised? Is he going to have merch? A line of those kinds of absolutely disgusting thoughts goes through his mind. How absolutely vile.]
Go ahead and turn them all on.
[unless you get electrocuted. or maybe even if you do get electrocuted.]
And, it should go without saying, be ready in case this thing snaps shut.
[the door already proved he can't stop it if it starts]
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But also, nothing really happens. There's a clicking sound as the switch is flipped, but no dice on the light.]
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[ which he knows because he's the adopted son of a billionaire, don't question me.
anyway time to die! FLIPS THEM ALL TO ON AND HOPES FOR THE BEST ]
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